The decline of music hall came slowly at first. By the 1930s and 1940s it had ebbed a little from its turn-of-the-century peak and was no longer the dominant form of popular entertainment. But through the Great War, the birth of jazz and swing, the spread of cinema and the gramophone, it endured. In the jaws of the television age, and to gently dwindling audiences, the stars of music hall played on, blithely oblivious to a future where people would no longer build a night out around watching a fellow singing bawdy songs about boiled beef and carrots.
This, perhaps, is what it feels like to watch Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad in the 2020s: those consummate showmen, still telling the same jokes, still playing the same classic tunes, still honing and perfecting an immaculate act that one suspects will be entirely lost on future generations. Here he comes now, young Broady – yes, we know he’s 33, but we still call him that – still putting six balls in the same place, just like they used to. Here comes old Jimmy, still finding the outside edge with the old three-inswingers-and-an‑outswinger trick. The old ones are the best.
Written by Jonathan Liew
This news first appeared on https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/jan/06/jimmy-anderson-stuart-broad-england-double-act-cricket under the title “Jimmy Anderson and Stuart Broad play hits when world prefers new material | Jonathan Liew”. Bolchha Nepal is not responsible or affiliated towards the opinion expressed in this news article.
